Toyota is an international automotive giant with global manufacturing plants and distribution centers worldwide. Beyond automobile production, they also produce rubber and cork materials, steel products, automatic looms and cotton and woolen goods. Furthermore, through its Toyota Financial Services subsidiary they offer automotive sales financing as well as credit cards – with operations located across Japan, North America, Europe and Asia.
Toyota is known for their uncompromising pursuit of quality. Their “lean production” quality system, however, is so stringent that an idiom exists to describe situations in which no defects have occurred: “no kaizen.” Additionally, this system requires managers to continually scrutinize every process to identify any possible areas for improvement.
This rigorous approach to employee evaluation extends to employees themselves; their performance is constantly assessed. They receive feedback in the form of a Kaizen Report detailing things that went well as well as opportunities for improvement – an integral component of lean production systems that emphasize continuous improvement and employee participation.
Toyota takes a stringent approach that forces managers to stay focused on quality and customer satisfaction – an approach upheld by its highest levels of management.
At Toyota, its executives push employees to break out from routine and take risks to pursue near-impossible goals. This practice dates back to its roots; Kiichiro Toyoda sought to produce automobiles in Japan without using foreign technologies – an unthinkable feat even for powerful zaibatsu such as Mitsubishi and Mitsui at that time – yet his willingness to try something different and risk failure propelled the company along its global success path.
Toyota’s strategy continues to progress today as they shift their hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle sales focus from North America to Europe and China where demand for cleaner cars is greater. They hope to sell over 200,000 fuel cell vehicles there by 2030; up from just 3,900 sold last year.
As Toyota shifts its focus toward hydrogen vehicles, they are working with partners to increase fuel cell production capacity and bring down costs. Furthermore, Toyota is increasing the number of fuel cell models it offers – such as Mirai sedan and an all-new Crown luxury limousine – as well as providing semis for Peterbilt and Kenworth to smooth power demand on the grid more effectively and researching next-generation fuel cells that could produce more energy than they consume – through The Toyota Foundation, their philanthropic arm of course!
